Alaska's fiscal puzzle

Please take the time to speak out

Public testimony on HB 111, the oil tax legislation, will be heard in the Senate Resources Committee today beginning at 5 p.m. We ask that everyone who can to visit their local Legislative Information Office to testify. If you are unable to make it to an LIO, call 844-586-9085 to participate by phone. Each testifier will be limited to two minutes so it is important to keep your comments focused and concise on how the legislation will cause undue harm Alaska’s oil and gas industry.

Here are some ideas to consider for your testimony:

  1. Raising taxes on oil especially when the industry is losing money drives away investment at a time when we should be attracting investment.
  2. The idea that the state must change oil taxes again to "create stability" doesn't make sense. Changing them again creates instability!
  3. The oil industry has and continues to pay most of the state's taxes. To say that the oil industry needs to contribute more as their fair share is misguided.
  4. Let's focus on the entire government take, not just production taxes, which is the way the industry makes its investment decisions. The State takes the greatest share at all prices now. Total government take is close to 70% at today’s oil prices.
  5. Increasing the minimum tax when prices are low would put Alaska in the unique status of the only jurisdiction that wants to kick the industry when it is down.
  6. The industry needs to spend about $3 billion per year to keep production up. Creating any disincentives will decrease oil production and jobs.

You are needed now more than ever! Even if you testified previously on the bill, we still need you to testify again to stop legislation that will enact punishing tax hikes on an industry that is showing year-over-year production increases under the existing tax system. So please, take this opportunity to support Alaska’s most important industry and get the economy moving in the right direction.

For a list of Legislative Information Offices, go to: http://akleg.gov/lios.php

Thank you for supporting Alaska’s economy,

KEEP
 

P.O. Box 220884, Anchorage, AK 99522 | 907.569.7070 | keepalaskacompetitive.com
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